19 February 2015

Sydney, Australia 19 February 2015 - CADDIT Announces the immediate availability of Geomagic Design 2015 V17 Release. This is somewhat a stability / bugfix release but with several new and important features requested by users in Australia and around the world. 3D Systems demonstrates its commitment to making Geomagic Design an improved tool for 3D mechanical design and drafting with this release. The most significant (and perhaps most understated) enhancement is the long-awaited Global Parameters feature. What are "global parameters"? Basically, a global parameter is a design value or equation which is shared across multiple parts and/or assemblies. The concept is very similar to SolidWorks global variables. Global variable data is stored independently in a newly released format called an ".AD_GLP" file. Any part or assembly can be associated to the values stored in an AD_GLP file.

A new set of Global Parameters can be created in Geomagic Design from the file menu -> "New" -> "Global Parameters" as shown in the Home window screenshot below:

Selecting this file type opens the new Editor interface for Global Parameters as shown. Create new parameters and save the final data as a new AD_GLP:

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Your new Global Parameter file can thereafter be selected from any part or assembly and be used in that design by clicking the new "Global Parameters" supplied in both the Part and Assembly menu ribbons. Click "Select File" and choose your newly created AD_GLP file from the folder where it was saved to.

Other new features include: The Isolate command has been added to design instances in the Drawing Explorer. It is used to isolate a design instance in a drawing view, especially ones that are affected by an assembly feature. Standard fundamental deviations and International Tolerance (IT) grades can be selected to create Fit Tolerances on a hole and shaft, which will determine the type of fit. The dialog boxes for creating Reference Geometry have been updated to more intuitively show how reference geometry is created and to visually assist users on the various creation methods that can be used in different reference geometry creation situations. A new "Summary BOM" can now be created from an assembly. It can be used to override the Treat as part in BOM when used as a subassembly option. This is useful for quickly creating a BOM that shows all parts in subassemblies if multiple subassemblies have been set to be treated as a part.